From Facebook:
Doug Blackmon
Yesterday at 1:38am ·
“RussiaGate” has become a catastrophic failure of leadership—and a debacle from which the Trump presidency will not recover
—“Trump is a suicide vest strapped around the body of the Republican Party”—-
#trumprussia
By Douglas A. Blackmon
A little more than a week ago, I said on CNN and wrote here that—based on reporting I’d just completed in Washington D.C.—it was clear that the controversy surrounding Russian contacts with advisors to President Donald J. Trump and his campaign team was about to become much more serious, much more directly focused on the president himself, and have deeply troubling consequences for our democracy.
The revelations of the past seven days have confirmed all that, and will be remembered as the point when an extraordinary but perhaps still manageable political embarrassment for the Trump administration mushroomed into the most serious controversy to engulf a presidency since Watergate.
Based on what we know already, and new revelations that will soon illuminate more key events in this sequence, our country faces a dramatic constitutional exigency. This crisis now is directly about the President himself, and one for which he now bears complete responsibility. Bluntly stated, it has become a catastrophic failure of conduct and leadership—and a debacle from which the Trump presidency will not recover.
What I couldn’t say last week was that, earlier the same day, I spent more than four hours conducting Sally Yates’ first media interview since being fired by President Trump as acting U.S. Attorney General. With me in the interview was The New Yorker magazine’s White House correspondent, Ryan Lizza, whose profile of Yates will appear on Monday, May 22. (I have known Yates for more than 25 years. To read a profile I wrote of her in February, look here: http://slate.me/2l1ROhR)
During our interview, and subsequent conversations in the following days, Yates never disclosed any classified details of the ongoing investigation or specific new bombshells. But by the end of that long series of questions, answers and clarifications, important contours of the scandal—the boundaries of what is known or not known and the enormous scale of the stakes involved—became much more clear to me. Combined with that and other reporting, it became apparent that the Trump-Russia scandal was far more serious than understood when the first revelations of the investigation occurred, and since then have only grown more ominous. These observations are my own, based on my interviews with Yates, national security experts, and other people close to these events, as well as close reading of congressional testimony, publicly available documents, and disclosures by trusted fellow journalists.
To understand why this is so serious, it’s important first to realize what is truly important to the inquiry—and escape some of the distractions of the past six months. Why Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in November, or exactly how Russian interests attempted to disrupt and influence our electoral process is important, but ultimately not what matters most. Whether former Trump campaign officials and advisors failed to disclose past business dealings with interests in Ukraine, Russia and Turkey is a question that will be answered, but not a defining one. That President Trump and his family have had past business dealings or allegedly engaged in personal hijinks in Russia is hardly important at all.
No, this is an investigation about one thing: the now undeniable fact that a Russian espionage conspiracy accomplished an objective that has never previously occurred in American history—compromising the highest levels of U.S. government, penetrating the White House, establishing influence and leverage over the president’s National Security Advisor, and planting false information with the Vice-President of the United States—who then unwittingly repeated those fictions to the American people.
Read the rest at the link above. Please share.
Hey, Chicas! I almost fainted. Look who retweeted me? Whoa!
https://twitter.com/3ChicsPolitico/status/866858158781870080
https://twitter.com/ABC7News/status/866803614664114176
https://twitter.com/Femail/status/866765129244971010?
She’s so pretty. He is so handsome. Femininity and masculinity at its best.
https://twitter.com/TopherSpiro/status/866734726400401410?
https://twitter.com/ZestyFagottini/status/866124056415875072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdisqus.com%2Fembed%2Fcomments%2F%3Fbase%3Ddefault%26f%3Dpragmaticobots%26t_i%3D59775%2520http%253A%252F%252Fpragmaticobotsunite.com%252F%253Fp%253D59775%26t_u%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fpragmaticobotsunite.com%252Fmonday-evening-thread-3%252F%26t_e%3DMonday%2520Evening%2520Thread%253A%2520Where%2526%25238217%253Bs%2520My%2520Wine%252C%2520It%2526%25238217%253Bs%2520Monday%2520Wind%2520Down%26t_d%3DMonday%2520Evening%2520Thread%253A%2520Where%25E2%2580%2599s%2520My%2520Wine%252C%2520It%25E2%2580%2599s%2520Monday%2520Wind%2520Down%26t_t%3DMonday%2520Evening%2520Thread%253A%2520Where%2526%25238217%253Bs%2520My%2520Wine%252C%2520It%2526%25238217%253Bs%2520Monday%2520Wind%2520Down%26s_o%3Ddefault%26l%3D%23version%3Dcc9da4ac74e3e5dced15c079995f3bfd
https://twitter.com/MatthewACherry/status/866730462084866048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdisqus.com%2Fembed%2Fcomments%2F%3Fbase%3Ddefault%26f%3Dpragmaticobots%26t_i%3D59775%2520http%253A%252F%252Fpragmaticobotsunite.com%252F%253Fp%253D59775%26t_u%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fpragmaticobotsunite.com%252Fmonday-evening-thread-3%252F%26t_e%3DMonday%2520Evening%2520Thread%253A%2520Where%2526%25238217%253Bs%2520My%2520Wine%252C%2520It%2526%25238217%253Bs%2520Monday%2520Wind%2520Down%26t_d%3DMonday%2520Evening%2520Thread%253A%2520Where%25E2%2580%2599s%2520My%2520Wine%252C%2520It%25E2%2580%2599s%2520Monday%2520Wind%2520Down%26t_t%3DMonday%2520Evening%2520Thread%253A%2520Where%2526%25238217%253Bs%2520My%2520Wine%252C%2520It%2526%25238217%253Bs%2520Monday%2520Wind%2520Down%26s_o%3Ddefault%26l%3D%23version%3Dcc9da4ac74e3e5dced15c079995f3bfd
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Sources: WH staffers “audibly gasped” when news broke of today’s WaPo story that Trump asked intel officials to deny #TrumpRussia collusion.
https://twitter.com/KenDilanianNBC/status/866804305826906112
https://twitter.com/3ChicsPolitico/status/866818274272653312
https://twitter.com/USATODAY/status/866813888162955264
Watch live. Authorities suspect deadly explosion at Ariana Grande concert in Manchester UK was caused by a suicide bomber.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y60wDzZt8yg
https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/866792983437463554
Breaking…
https://twitter.com/Delo_Taylor/status/866798215663947780
Black ROTC cadet stabbed to death by member of ‘Alt-Reich Nation’ racist Facebook group
Elizabeth Preza ELIZABETH PREZA
22 MAY 2017 AT 06:06 ET
A black ROTC cadet set to graduate from Bowie State University this week was stabbed to death by a white University of Maryland student who’s a member of a racist online hate group, the Baltimore Sun reports.
Richard Collins III, 23, was visiting UMD this graduation weekend when he was attacked by Christoper Sean Urbanski, 22. Collins and two friends were awaiting an Uber ride around 3 a.m. Saturday morning when an “intoxicated and incoherent” Urbanski stabbed him. Authorities who reviewed videotape of the incident described the attack as unprovoked.
Police charged Urbanski, a member of the Facebook group, “Alt-Reich Nation,” with first-degree murder Sunday. The FBI is investigating the stabbing as a possible hate crime.
“Making a determination of motive especially if it’s a crime based on hate it’s something that has to be done with the totality of the circumstances,” FBI Special Agent Gordon Johnson told ABC News. Johnson also described the victim as a “national treasure.”
“This is a terribly, terribly dark time for [the family], and we can’t forget about that,” Johnson said.
Family spokesman, the Rev. Darryl L Godlock, said Collins will be remembered as a bright and funny family man who hoped to follow his veteran father’s footsteps. Last Thursday, Collins was commissioned into the Army as a second Lieutenant. He was set to graduate from Bowie State on Tuesday.
“He wanted to make his parents proud of him so he went into the military to serve his country,” Godlock said. “It was a great opportunity for him to advance forward and make the most out of his career.”
“[Collins] wanted to be a general of the United States Army, that was his ultimate goal,” friend and classmate Vidal Adams said. “He was the definition of a leader.”
Police originally said there was no indication race played a role in Collins’ murder, but University of Maryland Police Chief David Mitchell told the Root they’re investigating the Facebook group “Alt-Reich Nation,” of which Urbanski was a member.
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/05/black-rotc-cadet-stabbed-to-death-by-member-of-alt-reich-nation-racist-facebook-group/
I had seen this, Liza. It’s my lead story for tomorrow. Thank you for posting it.
YVW, Rikyrah. It is absolutely devastating.
She really did slapped his hand away….
https://twitter.com/haaretzcom/status/866661844999712769
Tee hee! He gets under her nerves in a major way. As he does with most people.
https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/866728832954454020
https://twitter.com/CNNPolitics/status/866764979713839104
https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/866665472997109760
https://twitter.com/Slate/status/866747274617114624
The IGNORANCE, STUPIDITY, the DUMBNESS of this orange POS
MOFO is in LA LA LAND, not even aware of his surroundings.
The sheer MADNESS of it all. And all because he has orange/white skin.
Mueller Will Get Up in Trump’s Businesses
by Martin Longman
May 22, 2017 1:10 PM
Michael Flynn will reportedly plead the Fifth Amendment and refuse to cooperate with the Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation into cooperation between Russia and the Trump campaign. This is hardly a surprise. Flynn’s lawyers need to negotiate with prosecutors, not blowhard politicians.
In other news, reporters Kevin Hall and Nicholas Nehamas of McClatchy have a piece today on the likelihood that the investigation of Special Counsel Robert Mueller will look extensively at business activities and real estate holdings of The Trump Organization. As a casual observer, I think this is actually one of the president’s greatest vulnerabilities, and not necessarily because it will prove collusion or cooperation between his campaign and the Russian government.
Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold recently won a Pulitzer Prize for his exhaustive exposure of Trump’s fraudulent philanthropic endeavors. Had Trump not become the president, he would have likely been in court quite often trying to defend his actions on that front. As it is, he had to pay a settlement on his fraudulent Trump University scheme. His business empire offers a rich menu for any prosecutor, and his best protection may be that Mueller is somewhat constricted in what he can pursue. Order No. 3915-2017 authorizes Mueller to investigate “any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated” with the Trump campaign and “any matter that arose or may arise directly from the investigation.” That might prevent Mueller from going too far off the reservation, but it might not. If he discovers felonious behavior in the routine analysis of Trump’s business operation, that would arguably still be a matter that arose directly from the investigation.
As for Trump’s more straightforward yet less certain vulnerabilities, the article lists some obvious inquiries:
…………………………..
Over the weekend, I wrote about the news that Michael Caputo has been called to testify before the House Intelligence Committee. He’s an interesting character and you should keep your eye on this less celebrated part of the puzzle.
Also, for those of you who can’t enough of this stuff, Lawyers for Good Government has put together a 33-year-long timeline of Trump’s connections to Russia. You’ll have time to peruse it because James Comey isn’t testifying until after Memorial Day.
Melania is mad. These two have a problem. She must be in some agreement to stay while he is occupying the Oval Office.
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HA! Yes; they are the PROBLEM
Will the Media Treat Ivanka Trump the Way They Treated Hillary Clinton?
by Nancy LeTourneau
May 22, 2017 2:20 PM
During Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, this happened:
But the big difference, at least so far, is one of transparency. Before being confirmed as Secretary of State, Clinton and the Obama transition team released a Memorandum of Understanding to which she would be held accountable on any questions related to the foundation. Throughout her tenure and then during the campaign, Clinton was scrutinized relentlessly. Particularly related to the latter, Paul Glastris summarized:
What do we know about Ivanka Trump’s role in the Women Entrepreneurs Fund, how it will operate, or what safeguards have been put in place to ensure it won’t raise questions of quid pro quo? The truth is, we know almost nothing.
Apparently the idea of the fund was Ivanka’s and she is the one who proposed it to World Bank President Jim Yong Kim. While the Wall Street Journal article on this story suggests that Ivanka does not control the fund and is not raising money for the it, I guess that we’re all supposed to simply accept the idea that it was merely a coincidence of timing that the contributions from Saudi Arabia and UAE were announced during Trump’s visit—and specifically during an event in Riyadh with Ivanka.
https://twitter.com/CaptainsLog2017/status/866703230528503808
white TRASH
https://twitter.com/AP_Politics/status/866717357594607616
Hey, Chicas. I’ve been heartbroken all weekend. A Dr here shot and killed himself. I cried so hard after hearing the news. He was known for his compassion for the poor. Always doing what he could to help the less fortunate.
That is so sad. Did he leave a note to say why?
I haven’t heard anything about a note.
Sorry SG2. That poor man and his family.
President Pakled
Liberal Librarian
May 22, 2017
Most mornings I peruse Twitter to see what fresh hell Donald Trump has unleashed on us. Today it didn’t take too long.
You can be forgiven for having a spit take. In one quote, Trump confirmed both that he told Russia about secret intelligence, and that the source of the intelligence was Israel. “Don’t worry, guys, I didn’t say it was YOU (wink).”
It really is getting hard to write about this man. It’s almost as if he wants to get out of this job so badly he’ll do anything to get impeached, but his party in Congress still has to gut healthcare and the tax structure, so he’s stuck in the job.
Oh yes, the broader GOP. While the Trump White House has become “Reservoir Dogs” as directed by Ed Wood, Jr., don’t forget that Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell still have their Randian boners up, wanting to undo the New Deal and Great Society in their totality, as well as obliterate Barack Obama’s legacy, making him an unperson. Of course, Trump’s travails have sucked up all the oxygen from the political room, so that’s good; healthcare “reform” is as good as stalled in the Senate, and tax “reform” is a non-starter. However, they can still do a lot of damage on the periphery, by undoing regulation or keeping regulation and just not enforcing it. And then we have our friends in ICE who have been taking too many lessons from the Gestapo now that their hands have been freed by their Fuhrer.
In Saudi Arabia, Trump Sounded Just Like Any Other Republican War Hawk
by Nancy LeTourneau
May 22, 2017 10:13 AM
During the 2016 campaign, foreign policy was one of the areas in which Trump sounded different from traditional Republicans. He eschewed the whole idea of “regime change” and campaigned on the idea that the U.S. shouldn’t be inserting itself in Middle Eastern conflicts.
On the other hand, he embraced the growing movement of Islamophobia in this country, including the idea that terrorism was a natural outgrowth of the Muslim faith. That was the basis for his proposed “Muslim ban” and his hints at the idea of developing a Muslim registry.
Due to that background, many people are experiencing a bit of whip lash at his remarks in Saudi Arabia over the weekend, including things like this:
………………………
That sounds an awful lot like the kind of thing George W. Bush said after 9/11. The key for Republicans has always been where you draw that line between good and evil. That’s where Trump began to sound an awful lot like the Republican war hawks.
Rhetoric like that will allow Senators like Cotton, Graham and McCain to jump back on the Trump train. Seeing Iran as the evil force in the Middle East puts U.S. foreign policy back on track to take sides with Sunni Muslims (primarily in the Gulf States) in their ancient battle with Shia Muslims (primarily in Iran). It ignores a fundamental reality that the editorial board of USA Today identified.
What Can Brown Do for the Democratic Party?
by D.R. Tucker
May 21, 2017 11:00 AM
Assuming, improbably as it may seem now, that Donald Trump survives and runs for a second term (hey, stranger things have happened), who will Democrats embrace as their post-Barack Obama, post-Hillary Clinton champion?
It’s not too early to speculate: the 2020 Democratic presidential primary will be here before you know it, and we could once again bear witness to a street fight between the party’s “establishment” and “progressive” wings. Of course, it’s just as likely that Democrats will decide to avoid a divisive primary by uniting around a consensus candidate.
If he chooses to run–and if he survives a right-wing effort to deny him a third term next year–one wonders if Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown will be embraced as the individual to unite the Democratic Party’s various factions. History has proven that a divided Democratic Party is ripe for the pickings–and if party members are brawling amongst themselves again, the White House will stay in Republican hands.
Last year around this time, I speculated that Clinton would select Brown as her running mate. I noted:
Brown nailed the difference between earnest and ersatz populism in a USA Today op-ed earlier this month:
Trump White House clashes with federal ethics watchdog
05/22/17 11:20 AM
By Steve Benen
Up until quite recently, Walter Shaub worked in relative unanimity. Shaub is the director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, an independent, non-partisan office, which tries to prevent conflicts of interest among high-ranking federal officials, and he’s worked off and on at the office for 20 years.
But Donald Trump’s election has brought Shaub into the spotlight in unexpected ways.
It was Shaub who balked publicly in response to Trump’s decision to maintain ownership of his business ventures while serving as president. Soon after, he raised concerns about the president moving forward with cabinet nominees before the Office of Government Ethics could complete an ethics review process – and then blew the whistle when Trump’s nominees pushed back against the government’s ethics requirements with “a ferocity we’ve not previously seen.”
Last week, we learned that it was Shaub’s office that stood its ground when Trump’s attorneys “wanted him to submit an updated financial disclosure without certifying the information as true.” And this week, the New York Times highlights the latest skirmish in this ongoing saga.
New: @dccc expands their list of GOP house seats to target. Bold-faced names now in Dem crosshairs: Nunes, Hunter, Brat pic.twitter.com/nSD9wRvn4r
— Garrett Haake (@GarrettHaake) May 22, 2017
TFW you find out Clarence Thomas joined liberals to strike down NC congressional maps.
That’s how racist it was.https://t.co/RbtKcGyDDU pic.twitter.com/EdaW1PjiaV
— Nerdy Wonka (@NerdyWonka) May 22, 2017
Bannon has left the trip…couldn’t handle being around so many Muslims and Jews…you could see it on his face.
HA! They can’t stand it when they’re in the MINORITY.
Illinois lawmakers pass law to make Obama’s birthday a state holiday https://t.co/2iI1LTlvNs pic.twitter.com/XyOEDzsE9d
— All Things WSB-TV (@AllThingsWSB) May 22, 2017
Mississippi Republican faces pushback following ‘lynching’ comment
05/22/17 10:40 AM
By Steve Benen
Local officials in New Orleans last week finished removing Confederate-era monuments from prominent positions in the city, which, not surprisingly, was the subject of some debate. But the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Mississippi, highlighted a Republican lawmaker who made clear what he intends to do if a similar effort is launched in his home state.
I’ll gladly concede that random state lawmakers say ridiculous things with some regularity, and as a rule, turning each incident into a national news story is a Sisyphean task.
But there’s a legitimate conversation underway about the future of Confederate monuments in much of the South, and the fact that sentiments such as Karl Oliver’s still exist – from an elected lawmaker, publishing online for the public to see – are a reminder about the state of the debate in some corners.
The fact that this Mississippi Republican represents the community of Money – the same town in which Emmett Till was lynched in 1955 – makes Oliver’s statement that much more striking.
And the hate crimes never stop…
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We’re being assaulted on all fronts by #45 & his cabal. Now they’re focusing on taking down AMERICA’s SAFETY NET. Watch them
They know the clock is ticking. They’re trying to make this happen as fast as they can.
you are right..the clock IS ticking for them
Dirty Deeds: The Trumpist Threat to Clean Air and Water
by D.R. Tucker
May 22, 2017 8:00 AM
Presumably, Donald Trump didn’t bring the hack he hired to run the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, along with him to Saudi Arabia because the fossil-fuel fetishist wouldn’t want to leave that petrostate.
The New York Times, presumably trying to reduce the public’s contempt towards its decision to hire climate-change denier Bret Stephens to foul its op-ed page, has tried to repair the damage by focusing on the damage Pruitt’s policies will inflict upon our planet:
How Cities Can Protect Immigrants in the Age of Trump
Cincinnati’s new ID program could be a model for other progressive cities.
by Timothy Broderick
May 22, 2017
Heavy rain loomed on the horizon, but the crowd standing outside Woodward High School in Cincinnati, Ohio was unfazed, wearing smiles that could weather hurricanes. Showers wouldn’t drive them away. People had already waited hours for the ID drive to begin, some arriving before dawn, others camping overnight. The line started at the school’s double glass doors, wound around the entire building, and stretched out onto the street.
“It was incredible,” said Margaret Fox, director of Metropolitan Area Religious Coalition of Cincinnati (MARCC), a nonprofit that has spent decades fighting on behalf of the city’s marginalized communities. “I cry each time because it’s kind of like a scene at Ellis Island. Men, women, and children. Babies in strollers.”
MARCC, with the help of Catholic Charities of Southwest Ohio, sponsors the MARCC ID, an identification card rolled out last August that serves as valid identification for any Cincinnatian. While target populations for the ID include former felons and homeless individuals, most cardholders are undocumented immigrants hoping to insulate themselves from the rising xenophobic policies and rhetoric of the Trump administration.
For undocumented immigrants, living without identification is a dangerous prospect. A simple run-in with the police can initiate the deportation process, even for non-criminals. Since public offices and services in Cincinnati — law enforcement included — recognize the MARCC ID as valid identification, obtaining the ID curtails the risk of deportation.
Municipal IDs like the MARCC ID are a new tool cities are employing to defend the rights of the undocumented. “The MARCC ID does not allow any holder to obtain any services or benefits that are not available to the holder under federal, state, or local laws,” said Fox. The ID helps immigrants access those benefits.
Trump is Being Taken Apart, Step By Step
by Martin Longman
May 17, 2017 1:30 PM
………………..
It’s obviously not just Comey who is crippling the president with leaks. There are leakers very close to the president, perhaps even in his inner circle. There are people leaking throughout the intelligence community and the Justice Department. They are doing so, most of them, because of sincere alarm and for patriotic reasons. And the result is this:
https://twitter.com/TPM/status/866662778752442369
Trump’s Ship is Going Down
There aren’t enough life rafts on this boat to save anyone but the women and children.
by Martin Longman
May 20, 2017 7:00 AM
I don’t remember a time when someone on President Obama’s staff said something like this about their boss:
Or this:
Trump spent the hours before leaving on his nine-day foreign adventure screwing every pooch in the Western Hemisphere. And he left his administration shell-shocked, distraught, and downright angry. He also made a pretty iron-tight case for removing him from office.
David C. Gomez, a former FBI assistant special agent in charge, said Trump’s comments demonstrated a profound inability to grasp the potential consequences of his words.
Flynn’s Job Was to Set Up Back Channel Access Between Putin and Trump
by Nancy LeTourneau
May 18, 2017 10:01 AM
The bombshells dropping on the Trump presidency are coming at a fast and furious pace right now. I’d like to focus on the latest one from the New York Times.
If you’ve been paying attention to this story all along, the first thing that should grab your attention is that Flynn told White House Counsel Don McGahn that he was under federal investigation on January 4th. That was not only a full two weeks before Trump’s inauguration, it was three weeks before Sally Yates told him that Flynn could be compromised because of his lies about meetings with the Russian ambassador. That puts some of his reaction to her in a whole different context.
https://twitter.com/jimsciutto/status/866660812038995968
Trump Is Ignoring America’s Looming Cybersecurity Threat
Our federal agencies are woefully underprepared to withstand a major cyberattack.
by Anne Kim
May 19, 2017
The “ransomware” attack that crippled computer systems around the globe last week shows once again just how vulnerable the world’s computer systems are to criminals and hackers.
The so-called “WannaCry” virus — which threatened to delete a victim’s files absent a $300 ransom — exploited a weakness in the Windows operating system that a simple software update could have blocked. Government computer systems were among the hardest hit, including Russia’s Interior Ministry and Britain’s National Health Service, which had to shut down 16 hospitals. Reports are already circulating of a second potential global cyberattack, Adylkuzz, which works by stealing processing power from victims’ computers.
So far, U.S. government systems seem to have been spared – but how ready are federal agencies to withstand a cyberattack?
The answer: Not as much as they should be.
After the 2015 discovery of a massive breach at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which compromised the personal information of 21.5 million people, President Barack Obama tasked a 12-member presidential commission with devising a national cybersecurity plan. The commission’s report, issued last December, included a long list of to-dos for the next Administration, citing an urgent need for “ambitious measures to put the federal government’s cybersecurity house in order.”
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/866652050309951488
https://twitter.com/barstoolsports/status/866638139514814464
Life is good for that little guy.
https://twitter.com/AP/status/866651349970292736
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 5/19/17
Comey firing story contains giant contradiction
Rachel Maddow shows how a request for more resources preceding James Comey’s firing was widely reported in the media but is adamantly denied by the Department of Justice – an irreconcilable contradiction.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 5/19/17
Flynn inquiry calls for espionage expertise
Barbara McQuade, former U.S. attorney, talks with Rachel Maddow about what is means to be an espionage prosecutor and why one might be assigned to the the case of disgraced Donald Trump NSA Mike Flynn.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 5/19/17
Can the Trump-Russia special counsel be undermined by Trump?
Neal Katyal, former US acting solicitor general who helped draft the special counsel regulations, talks with Rachel Maddow about the ways in which Donald Trump might seek to undermine or eliminate the Trump-Russia special investigation.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 5/19/17
How might Donald Trump try to end the special investigation?
Rachel Maddow looks at some ways by which Donald Trump could try to get in the way of the Trump-Russia special investigation or eliminate it entirely.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 5/19/17
Trump-Russia probe turns to White House adviser as it speeds up
Devlin Barrett, national security reporter for The Washington Post, talks with Rachel Maddow on another busy news day about new reporting that the Trump-Russia investigation has moved to a White House adviser close to Donald Trump.
In Saudi Arabia, Trump retreats from years of posturing
05/22/17 08:00 AM—UPDATED 05/22/17 08:12 AM
By Steve Benen
There was a fair amount of interest in Donald Trump’s speech in Riyadh yesterday, with the American president addressing dozens of Muslim leaders from the region. The ambiguity surrounding the purpose of the remarks only heightened the curiosity: what exactly would Trump – with a record of hostility towards Islam in general and Saudi Arabia in specific – do with this platform?
As it turns out, not a whole lot. The Republican’s speech in Saudi Arabia, by any fair measure, turned out to be pretty conventional, which inadvertently told us something important about Trump.
Perhaps the most provocative portion of the speech came when Trump strayed from the prepared text: he was supposed to reference “confronting the crisis of Islamist extremism,” but he instead said “confronting the crisis of Islamic extremism.” A senior administration official said soon after that the slip was not deliberate, but rather, was the result of the president being “exhausted” on his first full day abroad.
Regardless, the story here is less about a conventional speech and more about the fact that Trump retreated from his previous postures. Remember, Trump rose to prominence in Republican presidential politics by attacking Islam relentlessly, including his call for a notorious Muslim ban, which his White House tried and failed to implement a few months ago.
Saudi Arabia, UAE pledge $100 million to fund backed by Ivanka Trump
05/22/17 08:40 AM
By Steve Benen
About a month ago, Ivanka Trump boasted about a new initiative: in addition to her White House duties, the president’s daughter is helping raise money to “benefit female entrepreneurs around the globe.” As part of the endeavor, Ivanka Trump had already begun soliciting contributions from international donors.
It wasn’t long before legal and ethical questions arose – when the president of the United States’ daughter starts asking for money from prospective donors abroad, scrutiny is inevitable – prompting Ivanka Trump to make clear that the World Bank would manage the investment fund; she was merely championing the worthy cause.
The story took an interesting turn over the weekend with new “pay-to-play” concerns. NPR reported:
Some context is in order. It was just last year, for example, that Donald Trump said he was outraged that the Clinton Foundation accepted charitable contributions from Saudi Arabia, which, the Republican said, wants “women as slaves” and to “kill gays.” He added at the time, “Hillary must return all money from such countries!”
And yet, here we are, watching Trump’s daughter raising money accepting a sizable charitable contribution from Saudi Arabia.
What’s more, it’s important to consider the motivation behind the donation. The Washington Post’s Anne Applebaum noted, “The announcement that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will donate money to her fund was a ‘pay to play’ far more blatant than anything Hillary Clinton ever dreamed of.”
Shorter @vermontgmg: Trump is screwed. But read it all, because Garrett is the expert on Mueller & Comey. https://t.co/lVdgTSldVG
— Michael Grunwald (@MikeGrunwald) May 21, 2017
BREAKING: AP Source: Michael Flynn to decline Senate Intel committee subpoena, invoke 5th Amendment later today.— The Associated Press (@AP) May 22, 2017
CRIMINAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Goldman Sachs exec ends bid to join Trump administration
05/22/17 09:20 AM
By Steve Benen
Two months ago, James Donovan, a longtime Goldman Sachs executive, became Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as deputy to the Treasury secretary, serving just below Steve Mnuchin. On Friday afternoon, that nomination came to a rather abrupt halt.
James Donovan, the Goldman Sachs executive who was poised to become deputy Treasury secretary, is backing out of consideration.
While Donovan is hardly a household name, and his nomination wasn’t considered a major development, his withdrawal is a story with a fairly broad reach.
For example, Trump, after having used Goldman Sachs as a punching bag for much of the campaign, had chosen seven veterans of the Wall Street giant to work on his team. With Donavan stepping aside, and Anthony Scaramucci also walking away from an administration job offer, there are now five prominent Goldman Sachs executives remaining on Team Trump.
Trump’s Russia scandal is becoming a corruption scandal https://t.co/3w30JI5dd9 pic.twitter.com/OHiSlx8tHd— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) May 22, 2017
White House Moves to Block Ethics Inquiry Into Ex-Lobbyists on Payroll https://t.co/Py6PD02Opy— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) May 22, 2017
Good Morning, Everyone 😐😐😐
Good Morning, Rikyarh & Everyone.
I see the old orange POS is WORN OUT, from traveling & GROVELING.
BWA HA HA HA HATER!